AN INVESTIGATION OF RHYTHMS CHARACTERIZING SANSKRIT VṚTTA-ŚLOKA-S

Abstract

The rhythmic essence of a set of Metres can be captured and encapsulated in what is called an Adjacency Table which generates not only the Metres on which the Table is based but also other recognized Metres as well as a large number of entirely new rhythmic Metres. Starting from clustering different Metres around a comparatively long common sequence of guru-s and laghu-s the paper proceeds to work out a small set of ‘rhythm-elements’ the stringing of which in different orders as per the Adjacency Table yields different Metres. Results on 4 sets of Base Metres are presented.

Keywords

• sanskrit prosody
• chandas
• prosodic metre
• rhythm
• rhythm-element
• adjacency table